Re: [GD-General] Minor rant - cross-platform configuration

[Colin F. <cp...@ea...>]

2002 November 6th
Wednesday

> > This is something that should have been mostly figured out years ago,
> > and yet everyone rolls their own.
> [...]
> > Anyway, I'm writing a single generic header file that's going to be
> > used by all of our ANSI C libraries,
>
> You asked the question, and then indirectly answered it yourself. The
wheel
> was invented a long time ago, but there are hundreds of different wheels
in
> the market today.

I might be wrong here (I'm still recovering from Election
Night depression), but I thought Brian was offering to
end the "reinventing the wheel" pattern by posting a
definitive header file that should satisfy the needs
of most cross-platform developers.  The reason these
devlopers "rolled their own" header files was because,
I suppose, a standard header file had never been
created or published.  Just as the initiative that
led to the Standard Template Library (STL) now saves
many developers from having to make the same basic containers
and algorithms, perhaps GOSH will save developers
from having to enter the world of arcane compiler
variables and directives.  Sure, there will be people
that want custom headers, just as some people need to
avoid STL.

Anyhow, as far as having "hundreds of different wheels in
the market today", it's not because consumers desire
variety.  No, it's because "The Man" knows that
open standards and compatability might mean that His
products actually need to compete for consumer's
cash.  "The Man" is not interested in the welfare
of the consumer beyond the ability to produce more
things to be consumed, and the ability to buy stuff
(preferably invisible stuff, like derivative stocks
and phone sex).

So, we have the Sony wheel, with its memory stick,
funky cables, and wacky batteries.
Then there's the Microsoft wheel, which requires you to
get a ".NET Passport", a "hotmail" account and spam, and
always keep your wheel online so it can call home.
The MSN 8.0 wheel is just as good as the AOL 8.0 wheel.
The Cingular wheel allows you to drive around a little
more next month if you didn't drive around so much this month,
like that's an excuse to switch from some other wheel.
Verizon has a wireless wheel, but to have any fun
with it you have to get a Microsoft wheel and pay
money for "Get It Now!".  (AT&T also has a wireless
wheel, but anyone can mess with their own wheel.)
RealNetworks has the "Real One" wheel, which gathers
information about where the wheel has been, a lot
like the Microsoft Media Player wheel does.
GameCube, PS2, and XBox wheels don't work together
at all; you have to choose where you want to
roll, unless you're willing to buy all three
wheels.  For all the wheels mentioned above, you
should buy the wheel you see the most on television,
especially if the wheel is shown next to a popular
but totally unrelated wheel.  Vote for the wheel
that will lower taxes, and then freak out when
hospitals, schools, parks, libraries, roads,
homeless shelters, clinics, fire stations, and police
stations start closing.  Forget about domestic issues
and the economy, and expand programs to "defend"
our wheels against vague threats halfway around
the globe, without the support of most wheels in
the civilized world.

The true dream of "The Man" is to create an attractive
wheel whose operation is completely secret, and then
achieve market saturation by dumping these wheels all
over the world for free (or far below cost), and then
license and lease the ability to make the wheels roll.
Only through partnership with "The Man" can you hope
to compete with others who are already partners with
"The Man".  Eventually, when a partner of "The Man"
becomes really successful, "The Man" will assimilate
the essence of the partner just to eliminate the gap
between "The Man" and pure profit.

That's the Amazing(r) Story(c) of "The Man(sm) and His Wheels(tm),
LLP", all rights reserved, patent pending, registered trademark,
copyright, etc.

If you do not agree to the terms of this e-mail,
OR CRAZY LEGAL PARAGRAPHS WRITTEN IN ALL UPPERCASE LETTERS,
or any of the 1000 paragraphs in the EULA that you
couldn't possibly have read in the 1.3 seconds before
you finally preceive and immediately press the
"I Agree" button, then return all materials in
the original packaging to the manufacturer for a
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you to purchase some of our other products.
Please allow 8 to 200 weeks for delivery.
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If, God forbid, there's actually competition in this
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you finally wake up and switch to a better product.
If you fail an arbitrary credit check, we'll increase
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and this amount is non-refundable even if you return
the product.

  [ ] I Disagree, even though I drove all the way to
the computer store, paid $400 for this software,
have a strong desire to do something productive
with the software, and already did most of the
installation steps.  There was a tiny clause in
the EULA that I just cannot accept, despite the
fact that the overwhelming elements of the program
do just what I want.  Sure, the next best software
out there may be used by only 2% of the market,
but I'm willing to enter obscurity and alienation
if it means that GiantCorporation won't make me
make yet another concession in my privacy.
I know that eventually the OS will fundamentally
invade my privacy, and checkboxes will revert to
allowing full disclosure, and minor incidental
software upgrades will totally change the agreements,
but I'll take a silly stand against these things
even when the federal government will let
GiantCorporation do whatever it wants anyhow.

  [ ] I Agree.  Okay, I didn't really read the
EULA.  I trust that GiantCorporation will do what's
best for me.   I kind of like WWW sites that greet
me by name.  The targeted advertising and e-mail
is just great.  Actually, it's kind of reassuring
to know that GiantCorporation is checking if I
have any pirated music, images, or software on my
computer, and checking my documents for any
anti-establishment talk.  When ObscureCorp enforces
an all-encompassing patent on "interactive software",
I'll automatically be billed for royalties.
In general, renting is better than buying; it
keeps me from owning things, and I get to spend
money on an ongoing basis and gives me a thrill of
imagining what might happen if I lost my job.
Maybe I can save some money if I leased some
of my software on an hourly basis.  I'm hoping
that GiantCorporation can devise a closed system
on my own desktop, monitoring all files, and
managing my life -- like I'm part of a giant
club, where everyone likes the same music, movies,
video games, and GiantCorporation's version of
the news.  It's easier when we're all the same!
I hope GiantCorporation makes us all the same,
of a single mind, at equilibrium, in perfect
harmony with GiantCorporation.  Yes, I Agree!


--- Colin
cp...@ea...